32 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



other words a barrier is placed at the portals of med- 

 ical colleges which requires some degree of learning 

 to pass. And if this does not prove a sufficient re- 

 straint upon propagation, a classical qualification will be 

 added, especially as the customs of Europe call for it. 



If the medical course cover four years, I would 

 reduce it to three, and require a preliminary year to 

 be devoted to classics and natural sciences. It would 

 amount to the same in the end, so far as cost and time 

 are concerned, yet would be a wiser division of study. 

 A man with a year's training in Latin will learn much 

 faster than the student who has to turn to the medical 

 lexicon at every step taken. 



At the International Medical Congress, which re- 

 cently convened at Berlin, were gathered representa- 

 tives from twenty-five different nations; consequently, 

 in the reading of papers and discussion of topics, there 

 must have been a Babel of tongues. Few could under- 

 stand what may have been said. In contrast with this 

 confusion of speech is a council of Catholic dignitaries 

 convened at Rome to discuss some measure of the 

 Church. Though they come from the four quarters 

 of the earth, and officiate in the language of the coun- 

 tries they represent, they are all educated in Latin, and 

 transact business in a common tongue. I mention the 

 circumstance to illustrate the need of a "dead lan- 

 guage" as a medium of communication for delegates 

 constituting international congresses, whether to dis- 

 cuss religion, medicine, law or commerce. The inter- 

 national importance of the matter may be overesti- 

 mated, yet it is worthy of notice, especially as English 

 is not likely to be the ruling tongue for a thousand 

 years or more. 



In a consideration of the subject, it must be borne 



